Emotional Intelligence
| Subject: | 🧓🏼 Personal Experience |
| Type: | Personal Narrative Essay |
| Pages: | 7 |
| Word count: | 1824 |
| Topics: | Self Reflection, Creativity, Human Nature, Personal Philosophy, Social Psychology, 😱 Emotions |
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Table of Contents
Introduction
There are several types of emotions that an individual possesses. All of them manifest in that individual’s behaviour largely. Emotions can be negative as well as positive; they are generally strong in nature. In fact, it is important to understand that emotions indicate an individual’s current emotional state. Even various thoughts are stimulated by a person’s emotions. At certain times emotions may disrupt an individual’s flow of thoughts thereby demanding excess attention. Moreover, emotional are always directed towards one or the other thing such as an object, subject, etc. Various emotions of an individual are activated by different events. Arguably, human beings can choose how they will behave and control their emotions in social settings. Alternatively, emotional intelligence comprises of perceiving emotions, facilitating thoughts, understanding emotions and managing emotions. In this paper it will be elucidated how various well formulated strategies are required to maintain emotional balance in organisational settings. Apart from this, other things that will be discussed vividly in the paper are different emotional styles portrayed by individuals and the impact of emotions on an individual’s thought process and generic behaviour.
Discussion
Influence of emotions on behaviour and thinking
Emotions can cloud an individual’s judgement and correct perception. Emotions are reciprocal with disposition, personality, temperament and mood. Even a person’s level of energy and enthusiasm can get affected by the emotions that he or she has. Social interactions can get affected by various complicated emotions; however, in most of the cases an individual may not be completely aware of his or her own emotions.
The implication that can be extracted for behaviour is essential for both the subordinates and managers. Mostly, in an organisation it is the human resource management team who identifies any emotional disposition of the employees that impact their judgement and behaviour. In fact, they try to ensure that the repercussions of such emotions are either neutralised or positive (Brunetto, Teo, Shacklock and Farr‐Wharton, 2012). For instance, positive emotions are instrumental in increasing an employee’s productivity in the workplace. A decision’s validity can be affected by both negative and positive emotions.
Various domains of emotional intelligence are motivating self, management of emotions, identifying and understanding of self, knowing and recognising emotions’ of others and lastly, managing others’ emotions. The above mentioned various components of emotional intelligence are important for decoding the topic. Self-awareness is nothing but having a vivid understanding of self. It also includes what affects others and how others react while an individual behaves. In this case, gut feelings play an integral role for dissecting the same (Kim, Jung-Eun Yoo, Lee and Kim, 2012). Emotional control helps individual to encounter any unpleasant situation in organisational settings; rather it will help him or her to maintain a stoic attitude towards any situation and handle stress calmly. Motivation is a part and parcel of emotional intelligence. Continuously motivating self is important because without the same it is difficult to complete any task successfully. Apart from this, self-motivation keeps up the optimistic attitude. It helps to overcome several setbacks, obstacles, failure, etc for reaching goal within stipulated time period. Flexibility is intricately related to understanding of others’ problems. In various complicated situations one emotionally intelligent person easily adapts to change. In fact, options are developed using problem-solving skills. An emotionally matured person will always possess adequate social skills for interacting effectively with others. Social skills help to influence others explicitly and establish relationships with others.
Figure 1: Framework of Emotional Intelligence
(Source: Lam and O’Higgins, 2012)
In the above figure it can be witnessed how emotional intelligence has four attributes; they are namely, self-management, relationship management, social awareness and self-awareness. First two attributes are identified under regulation category and latter ones are segregated under recognition category. Self-awareness can easily be developed by recognising emotions that have profound effect on an individual’s life. On the contrary, it is important to identify both weaknesses and strengths so that others cannot use the same as weapons to offend individuals. Self-confidence comes from possessing knowledge about the capabilities and self-worthiness. Emotionally intelligent people always make time for them and self-introspect for understanding the above mentioned aspects. Activities that broaden one’s horizon and deepen thought process should be embraced in a person’s life to become emotionally intelligent.
Arguably, social intelligence is distinct from self-awareness. For example, when a waiter suggests better items from the restaurant’s menu it portrays social awareness. Other times it can be observed when hotel receptionist remembers a person’s name, etc. A person with high emotional intelligence with be empathetic towards others and understand their needs better (Lindebaum and Cassell, 2012). On the other hand, organisational awareness helps to dissect politics that takes place in workplace and its profound effect on people working there. Lastly, providing service to the clients and customers effectively is also included in emotional intelligence. For instance, tackling a client who possesses bad temperament and behaviour requires an executive having high emotional intelligence.
On the other hand, relationship management demands four criteria to become effective. They are a decision, an interaction, an outcome and needs of an individual. Apart from this, other things included in relationship management are bond building on personal level, change catalyst, inspiring others, influencing others, collaboration and teamwork, etc. For an organisation it is important to establish fortified relationship with various stakeholders by effective dispute settlements, timely feedback which is insightful, maintaining network flow, resolving differences in opinion and skills building. Even leaders having high emotional intelligence will always be the catalyst for change.
One of the most important aspects of emotional intelligence is self-management which plays integral role in maintaining harmony in social settings or organisational environment. Various components of the same are trustworthiness, self-control, adaptability, initiative, achievement drive and conscientiousness.
Common emotional styles’ critical assessment
There are different types of emotional styles; these include sensitivity to context, self-awareness, social intuition, outlook, resilience and attention. All of the above emotional spectra immensely affect an individual’s personality. For instance, if a person possesses traits that are socially likeable it can be said that he or she has positive outlook. Even he may have strong context sensitivity and social intuition. Social intuition simply understands others at a much deeper level. Focused attention styles and high resilience can be portrayed in someone who is tenacious by nature. Arguably, it is extremely important to understand that one person may be good at social intuition but bad at programming (Brunetto, Shacklock, Teo and Farr-Wharton, 2014). Even a person with more pessimistic outlook can be perfectionist in nature and work double to leave no stone unturned. Unarguably, emotional style of an individual is primarily genetic but can greatly be influenced by various external factors. In fact, the researchers argue that the brain itself can be changed by continuous conscious efforts. If one becomes aware of his or her own emotional style then the aspects hindering progress can be evaluated easily. For instance, reflective journaling, mindfulness meditation, drastic change in the environment can change the way an individual reacts to the immediate environment.
Various emotional factors in organisations
Most of the companies operating in service sector understand the need to possess emotional intelligence to the fullest. In fact, their businesses thrive on maintaining quality of interaction with different customers. Sometimes, even the same is considered to be competitive advantage.
Emotional dissonance and true emotions
Emotional dissonance is nothing but the difference between true emotions and the ones demanded in a task or job. It is also one of the most important causes of job burnout and stress. The same can be experienced in the workplaces where different emotions need displaying than the ones they possess but it is restricted from showcasing. Emotional burst out is very much likely when an employee hides his or her true emotions that are subdued (Humphrey, 2012). Anger is one of such emotions which are very difficult to control. For example, when a customer care executive has to handle multiple clients on a single day with bad temperament it is likely for him or her to burst out anytime soon in such scenario.
Relationship strategy
It is extremely important to possess relationship strategy in today’s corporate world. For instance, front line employees are often witnessed to be engaged in emotional labour or else continuous interaction with the public can be extremely stressful. In fact, emotional labour sometimes becomes so burdensome that it is difficult to handle the same properly.
Emotional labour
No matter what is going on in an individual’s personal or family life, he or she is supposed to perform best in professional life. It is extremely burdensome which may affect an individual’s performance to a large extent. There are mainly two types of emotional labour such as surface acting and deep acting. In case of the first one an individual portrays fake emotions in order to cater the rules and regulations of an organisation. Alternatively, deep acting is the reflection of an individual’s personal life’s contentment in a job or task. Emotion labour manifests when long duration and frequent face-to-face interaction takes place.
Emotional attitude and labour
It is believed by the corporate leaders that emotional labour can be supported when various employees are hired with appropriate attitude. For instance, the top leaders of Pan Pacific Hotel hire employees not for experience but only for attitude. Emotional labour is largely dependent upon the cultural background. For instance, Italian organisations embrace the employees who display true emotions in workplace.
Strategies required for attempting to gain personal emotional control
Emotional intelligence skills and improving emotional intelligence
EQ skills can be enhanced when an individual introspects more often in his or her daily life. Other skills such as understanding everyone on a much deeper level, being empathetic, controlling emotions in social settings can be acquired by practicing meditation, productive leisure activities and journaling. Even frequent feedback system should be there to enhance emotional intelligence. Arguably, emotional intelligence also surges with time and age. On the other hand, IQ remains stable for an individual throughout his or her life.
Job performance and emotional intelligence
A happy person is more productive compared to that of anxious or morose ones. For instance, one can accomplish more when an individual is contented in other spheres of life. As a result, nowadays employees are hired on the basis of their aptitudes for which multiple interview rounds takes place. Even emotional intelligence is connected to a large extent with different personality traits such as emotional stability, conscientiousness, openness to experience, extroversion and agreeableness.
Conclusion
In the above essay it is deciphered how emotional labour and performance in the organisation are dependent upon each other extensively. Some of the emotional styles assessed in the paper are resilience, sensitivity to context, social intuition, attention, self-awareness and outlook. Personal emotional control can be achieved when an individual practices journaling, meditation, introspection, etc on regular basis or once in a while. It establishes healthy relationships with various stakeholders in an organisation.
- Brunetto, Y., Shacklock, K., Teo, S., and Farr-Wharton, R. (2014). The impact of management on the engagement and well-being of high emotional labour employees. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(17), 2345-2363.
- Brunetto, Y., Teo, S. T., Shacklock, K., and Farr‐Wharton, R. (2012). Emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, well‐being and engagement: explaining organisational commitment and turnover intentions in policing. Human Resource Management Journal, 22(4), 428-441.
- Humphrey, R. H. (2012). How do leaders use emotional labor?. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(5), 740-744.
- Kim, T., Jung-Eun Yoo, J., Lee, G., and Kim, J. (2012). Emotional intelligence and emotional labor acting strategies among frontline hotel employees. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 24(7), 1029-1046.
- Lam, C. S., and O’Higgins, E. R. (2012). Enhancing employee outcomes: The interrelated influences of managers’ emotional intelligence and leadership style. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 33(2), 149-174.
- Lindebaum, D., and Cassell, C. (2012). A contradiction in terms? Making sense of emotional intelligence in a construction management environment. British Journal of Management, 23(1), 65-79.
Offered for reference purposes only.